Echinacea plant named ‘TNECHPG’

ABSTRACT

A new and distinct Echinacea plant named ‘TNECHPG’ is provided, characterized by soft orange to soft pink multicolored flowers, an amazing number of inflorescences starting in the first season, a very compact habit, very long bloom time with excellent rebloom, ray florets held horizontally, and excellent vigor.

Botanical denomination: Echinacea spp.

Variety designation: ‘TNECHPG’.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Echinacea and given the cultivar name ‘TNECHPG’. Echinacea is in the family Asteraceae. The new cultivar is part of a planned breeding program for a landscape series with very compact habits and profuse inflorescences. The exact parents of this selection are unknown, unnamed, proprietary interspecific hybrids bred from Echinacea paradoxa, Echinacea purpurea, and Echinacea tennesseensis.

Compared to Echinacea ‘Big Kahuna’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 26,159), the new cultivar is much shorter and the inflorescences are smaller.

This new Echinacea cultivar is uniquely distinguished by:

-   -   1. soft orange to soft pink multicolored ray florets,     -   2. an amazing number of inflorescences starting in the first         season,     -   3. a very compact habit,     -   4. very long bloom time with excellent rebloom,     -   5. ray florets held horizontally, and     -   6. excellent vigor.

This new cultivar has been reproduced only by asexual propagation (division and tissue culture). Each of the progeny exhibits identical characteristics to the original plant. Asexual propagation by division and tissue culture using standard micropropagation techniques with terminal and lateral shoots, as done in Canby, Oreg., shows that the foregoing characteristics and distinctions come true to form and are established and transmitted through succeeding propagations. The present invention has not been evaluated under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary with variations in environment without a change in the genotype of the plant.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 shows a two-year-old Echinacea ‘TNECHPG’ growing in the trial field in full sun in early September in Canby, Oreg.

DETAILED PLANT DESCRIPTION

The following is a detailed description of the new Echinacea cultivar based on observations of 9-month-old specimens growing in the trial field in full sun in Canby, Oreg. Canby is in Zone 8 on the USDA Hardiness map. Temperatures range from a high of 95° F. in August to an average of 32° F. in January. Normal rainfall in Canby is 42.8 inches per year in the trial fields in Canby, Oreg. The color descriptions are all based on The Royal Horticultural Society Colour Chart, 5^(th) edition, 2007.

-   Plant:     -   -   Type.—Herbaceous perennial.         -   Hardiness.—USDA Zones 4 to 9.         -   Size.—Grows to 32 cm wide and 40 cm tall to top of             inflorescences.         -   Form.—Basal clump, with 4 to 7 stems from the base.         -   Vigor.—Excellent.         -   Roots.—Fibrous, with many downward growing and few laterals,             ivory in color, Yellow White 158D, roots develop easily from             cuttings from the crown. -   Leaf (stem):     -   -   Type.—Simple.         -   Shape.—Lanceolate.         -   Arrangement.—Alternate.         -   Blade size.—Grows to 21 cm long (usually 14 cm long) and 3.3             cm wide.         -   Margins.—Entire.         -   Apex.—Acuminate.         -   Base.—Attenuate.         -   Surface texture.—Strigose on both sides.         -   Venation.—Pinnate, Yellow Green 145C on both sides.         -   Color.—Topside Green N137B, bottom side closest to Yellow             Green 147B.         -   Petiole description.—Clasping, grows to 6 cm long and 3 mm             wide, scabrous, narrow leafy edges which fold upwards,             Yellow Green 146C. -   Inflorescence:     -   -   Type.—Composite on terminal stalked heads.         -   Flowering stem.—Grows to 42 cm tall from the base of the             plant to the terminal inflorescence and can grow to 11 cm             long from the top stem leaf to the base of an inflorescence;             unbranched to branched, with 1 to 6 inflorescences per stem;             diameter growing to 6 mm wide near the inflorescence;             strigose; Yellow Green 145C stippled 147C, with slight tints             of Greyed Purple 187A in high light.         -   Size.—Grows to 9.5 cm wide and 6.5 cm deep as disc enlarges.         -   Form.—Ray florets held horizontally, curving down in old             inflorescences, mature disc is conic.         -   Immature inflorescence (bud).—3.5 cm wide and 2 cm deep, ray             florets held upright at 35 degree angle and rolled up so             only the back color shows, Greyed Red 181B except tip Yellow             Green 145C, disc color Green 137A with bracts Greyed Purple             187B.         -   Ray florets.—Without pistil or stamen, 20 to 31 in number,             grow to 40 mm long and 14 mm wide, oblanceolate with the tip             two-to-three-toothed (each acute), entire margins, base             attenuate, glabrous on both sides; fully open florets             topside Orange 26A blending to base Red 39A, bottom side Red             38B with streaks of Red Purple 60C; florets fade gradually             to both sides Orange Red 35D with Red Purple 60C at base.         -   Disc.—Flat becoming conic, becoming 39 mm deep and 45 mm             wide with maturity, Greyed Purple N186A in background with             bracts Orange 26A with tips Greyed Purple 187A.         -   Disc florets.—About 400 in number, each with 1 pistil and 4             stamen, grow to 11 mm long and 2 mm wide, each with one             persistent, very stiff linear bract (15 mm long with the top             1 mm Greyed Purple 187B blending to 4 mm Orange 24B to 5 mm             Green 137A blending to White NN155A on bottom); corolla 5 mm             long and 2 mm wide, tubular, 5 lobed, glabrous, Yellow Green             147B on lobes blending to 145C; pistil 10 mm long, ovary 3             mm long, White NN155D with top Yellow Green 144A, style 6 mm             long White NN155A, 2-branched stigma spreading 3 mm wide,             Greyed Purple 187B; stamen 5 mm long, filaments 2 mm long             and White NN155B, anthers 3 mm long and Greyed Purple N186A,             pollen, slight, Yellow 11B.         -   Involucral bracts.—In 4 leafy series, area grows to 38 mm             wide and 10 mm deep, lobes lanceolate in shape, reflexed,             grow to 10 mm long and 5 mm wide, Green N137A, margins             strigose, tip acute, strigose on both sides.         -   Receptacle.—Grows to 17 mm wide and 25 mm deep, White             NN155B.         -   Bloom period.—June through October in Canby, Oreg.         -   Fragrance.—Slight.         -   Lastingness.—Each inflorescence lasts about two weeks in             Canby, Oreg. -   Seeds: 3 mm long and 2.5 mm wide, oval, Brown 200C.     -   -   Fertility.—Poor. -   Disease and pests: No pests or diseases have been observed on plants     grown under commercial conditions in Canby, Oreg. No resistances are     known. 

I claim:
 1. A new and distinct Echinacea plant as herein illustrated and described. 